hi there, I hope someone can help me. Nelson is our first ever lab we have owned, he’s 9 months old. Last week he was castrated, and the vet told me he is 4kg overweight! He is 36kg, he is walked twice a day.. I say walked, he hares around our fields nearby off the lead. She has told me to go onto adult food now as less protein in adult food. Another lady today told me that he should be on a castrated diet, does anyone have any light on this, also what foods do all your labradors eat, and how much do they eat? Nelson seems to be constantly hungry! Thanks in advance.
Hi @l@laurasavidge The fact that Labs really, really like food, means they are easier to train using a conditioned reinforcer. Shaping is a doodle. Going to adult food seems sensible if he is overweight. Don't follow the recommendations on the packet. Use it as a guide. Instead focus on using you hands [should be able to easily feel his ribs] and eyes [dog should have waist as you look from above] to determine whether to reduce the amount of his food. Try some raw carrot. Helps to fill the dog without adding much to the intake of kilojoules.
Thanks so much for your help. You can see his waist from the top and you can feel his ribs, I don’t think he is drastically overweight although I know they’re prone to being overweight quickly. Thank you. He loves carrot so will definitely give that as a snack.
If he has just been castrated last week and is already overweight, you can only expect this battle to be even greater now, unfortunately, since neutering is a huge risk factor for obesity: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/re...rdBUEIuvBbkzTbTPe43JPUfXTppj2Bb65KIDNbKcL42D4 http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol4I...43K9fk8YJpoUVgapIvPXV3FzfmiNep94LIYXpD-moGBOM So it's good to learn this now and before he has put even more weight on, since it is always harder to get rid of than prevent... My suggestion is that you investigate a low carb diet, and to do that you will need to avoid kibble altogether. Raw would be my suggestion, or Ziwipeak if you don't want to feed raw.
Hi thanks for your reply, I will take a look at those articles, and invest into some low carb dietary products... thank you.
Also, factor any treats he gets for training into the total daily intake. Reduce the meal size on days he is getting more treats or snacks.
Yes thank you, we were told this by the vet so we have cut back on how many he has and take it out of his daily kibble allowance. When he has finished this lot of puppy kibble I am going to swap him over.
